You probably want one of these (Synology DS 923+ review)

Synology is the premium option in this space and really shows. After using this for almost a month, the analogy that jumps out to me is that Synology is basically the Apple of NAS solutions because of their incredibly easy-to-use software, which I'll be demonstrating the setup and some applications since it's so easy. Like Apple, Synology is not the cheapest option, and you probably get more hardware bang for your buck elsewhere, but my audience, being primarily iPhone and Mac users, understands that software can make or break hardware, and you get the best results when company makes the hardware and software.
Synology DS923+
amzn.to/4jvTvC9
Synology DS620slim
amzn.to/4hzT3kv
Special thanks to Synology for the hardware
www.synology.c...

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Great video Greg :-) I haven’t given much thought to NAS, so this was a good watch.

[@yjchoi17]

I love Synology! I admin a 916+ with the expansion module at work. (I’m an educator) Like you, I’m not an “IT guy,” but it’s really fun figuring out how to make use of Synology boxes for various situations. Most fun is when a student asks for academic advice, I’d casually pull out my phone and show him/her the DSM and browse through past class materials or assignments and talk about them. The looks on the students’ faces are golden, as they look kind of frightened that they are always being watched.

[@dmug]

I was half debating trying out hosting my own email and mirroring my blog on my synology for the hell of it since my blog purely rendered out as HTML/JS/CSS and doesn't have a backend since it's still in Jekyll. I'll do some full stack dev but I absolutely dislike doing DevOps. Anytime I have to manage infrastructure I want to bang my head against a desk and ironically now I'm a manager who has to oversee 140+ websites. I've kinda cursed myself. At least the synology is so pain free that it's kinda fun.

[@WarriorsPhoto]

Good find sir. Glad you've kept up with this hobby. How full is your Synology?

[@dmug]

I think about 21 TB and 15 TB free. I had have 11-12 TB of KZbin projects and about 8-9 TB of Plex stuff and about another 2 TB of random stuff. I'm not in any immediate danger of running out of storage as it took about 3 years of KZbin to generate the 11~ TB of KZbin. I don't need all of the RAW footage honestly, just particular shots.

[@WarriorsPhoto]

@@dmug You say that now about the RAW files and wait till you go back to recover something. Don't ask me how I know?

[@savagepro9060]

1:51 you'll get the best results when the company makes both the hardware and software . . . Apple: 😉🤣😂😅🤭🤭 Microsoft: "

[@dmug]

Yeah. I actually thought someone would point out Google. I didn’t think of MS. It is a fair point that MS makes surfaces and Xboxes. You can see though when MS only has to support its own like the Xbox lineup, the experience is better. The surface laptops are nice but since the OS is plain ol’ Windows, it’s akin to buying a Google phone, just usually less shovelware pre installed.

[@TheCynysterMind]

Nice review. I am not a MAC person (even though I have a couple) I went with the D1522+ (5bay) I loaded it with 4 UltraStore 18TB drives ... 2x 1TB nvme, 32 gigs of RAM and the 10GB adapter. I needed something that was robust enough to replace my Drobo 5D3. I am actually quite glad I did make the switch... but not because of the speed.... All I needed was a box of storage. But the other features such as the secure Music and Movie sharing. The ability to be a VPN Server (far better than the crappy one built into my Nighthawk Aeroplane. and also a FTP server. I am NOT a fan of the file permissions on file sharing (Windows and Linux does it far better) AND I am not getting full 10GB speeds... but to be fair that may be due to the TP-Link cards and TPLink 10GB switch. I do not have a way to test to verify what is the issue I realize I am a digital pack rat but it always seems like a waste to buy a synology and only put in 8TB drives in it

[@domipro123]

Very nice video! Could you make one where you explain how to setup a second NAS as a backup in an other place (town) for your first NAS? Thanks

[@atarixle]

When I firstly saw a server without any kind of display port, I was a bit confused. But now I just run a Pi4 for that task, attached to a 4 TB USB3 HDD. May be I will replace this by a NAS too somewhen in the near future.

[@Marc-eh4ib]

Nice video. 😊 how are you backing up your NAS ?

[@savagepro9060]

Good question, most people forget that a NAS is NOT itself, a backup!

[@dmug]

My Mac Pro with its real important stuff (photos, creative projects, docs, music) has dual Time Machine drives. My Plex movie collection and KZbin is just YOLOed. The cost of backblaze for the Nas would be something like $60+ a month even if limited to my KZbin collection since you pay $6 per TB. The lack of backup is why I haven’t moved my email to a self hosted solution. Honestly, I may one day move towards buying a NAS for my brother with the ask I can sync my asset library.

[@Fatblokeonamoped]

Something like this has been on my radar for a while now as I'm still using a MacMini 2012 utilising the FW800 for the networked Time Machine backup with a 4 drive enclosure and [nearly] all the USB3 ports with other attached enclosures. Of course, the major limiting factor here going forward is the 1gig Ethernet (I never thought I'd be saying that 25 years ago!) The one little thing I would be interested to know though is if it has legacy file sharing services for the [really] older Macs on OS9 and older, as I know you like tinkering with legacy stuff too.

[@dmug]

I haven’t tried but it supports AFP which should work with Mac OS 9. I actually have a section about networking with my power Mac g4 in my latest video where I show off AFP. kzbin.info/www/bejne/in_Ef6ltaq54ja8 My main issue is I don’t have a good os 9 computer since my Power Mac G4 now has an OS X only GPU hence why OS 9 hasn’t popped up in my videos for a long time.

[@Fatblokeonamoped]

@ Needless to say, it’s not a high priority (although I do actually still support a printers in my village who still runs an OS8.6 7300 (it runs a cutting machine) and his server is a 10.5.9 Sorbet G5, which doubles up as a handy file sharing network bridge between [said] 7300 and his High Sierra iMacs.) When I have need, l too now run a G4 dual boot OSX/OS9 when I need file serving for older stuff such as my beloved SE/30. Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out 😁

[@TheOriginalCollectorA1303]

Great review! Synology make some really cool systems, I’m sure it’s a game changer especially for KZbin and everything else. It’s nice to see that it’s easy to use and upgrade. I’d really like to improve my storage solution although I’d probably “upgrade” to some FireWire devices. I’ve got a 2TB Seagate external USB 3 drive for KZbin, but I use other drives for things like iTunes content. I’ve been wanting to try out old Mac OS X Server editions and use an old setup like that as a custom NAS/Server. It’s fun to work on old systems like that, but when it comes to a new product that’s convenient and reliable, Synology is definitely a great option.

[@dmug]

For my PowerMac g4 I was using my Mac Pro 2019 as a file server but now I have my Synology. Makes life easier. OS X server edition was super geared for a multi user environment, we had a Mac Pro 1,1 running it in an office I worked at. It didn’t offer a lot when it came down to it.

[@TheOriginalCollectorA1303]

Having dedicated file storage makes it really convenient especially for things like old PPC programs/games and having a copy of Mac OS installs ready to use. Even more useful if you use it alongside several systems. I’m sure OS X Server has features that I wouldn’t even know where to start with, but it’s more about just testing it out and seeing what I can do compared to stock OS X. Might be useful with my different Mac setups though.

[@yeowool404]

typo in the title!

[@savagepro9060]

Let's be honest. If the Olympics can have Break Dancing, they might as well have a Hack de Box event!

[@robertoaguiluz7350]

Hi, i have a 5,1 that i dont use much that plan to use as a NAS, do you think its a fair option?

[@dmug]

It certainly can but the power consumption is rather high, especially in the dual cpu configs with many drives around 140w idling. Generally with an always on config, you’re shooting for low power. The Synology is about 10-11w idling and 32w when reading or writing data. 140w 24/7 isn’t terribly expensive most places ($3-$6) but it’s easy to push it well beyond that if under load frequently, and depending on config, it’s easy to bump that beyond 300w without even a beefy modern GPU. That’s still not massively expensive but oodles higher than most NAS solutions. The other part is the lack of 10 GbE, and using not-macOS. You’ll want to look into Unraid or TrueNAS and probably want the network upgrade.

[@user-ic6xf]

That noise sounds like the hard drives not anything on the actually NAS. The bigger the drive the most noise usually.

[@dmug]

Oh I figured it was the drives vibration.

[@MrStevetmq]

Why do you keep saying NOS is it not a NAS

[@dmug]

Probably too many years of hip hop, Nas the rapper is pronounced as “Nahs”

[@ericbowers71]

HDDD’s???

[@alemacgirl]

"Silencer" XD

[@dmug]

Yeah, it's a zealous oversell of a thing audio engineers used to do with loud tower Mac and PCs. Eventually I'll make a proper box more fitting of the name.

[@keltonjohnson6197]

I do think there’s some value to Synology NAS boxes, but synology drives are overpriced for no reason. They are just rebranded Toshibas if I recall correctly. Some real hard drive manufacturers like Seagate give free data recovery and higher capacities. Even Toshiba is much better value than Synology.

[@dmug]

The value is custom firmware on the drives, better warranties and absolute guarantee on compatibility. For a corporate environment where time is money, they make sense. You can order all in one a BTO NAS with all the parts needed in a single order and you know everything will work. A busy IT team will pick "It works" over "Save a few dollars but risk more support" every time. For consumers? Not really.